House Tour

Most school districts in rural Alaska lease furnished housing to teachers. My district is no exception. Today I want to share some pics with you, my dear readers. And here it is! This shade of red is a common paint color in Alaska.I’m lucky to have a roof over my front steps so they don’t get too slippery. The blue tote stores garbage until I can get to the dump.

 I’m also lucky to have a nice view from my porch 🙂

Moving inside…  This is called an arctic room or arctic entry — like a foyer, but less fancy. Basically, it’s a small room that separates the front door (brrr) from the rest of the house.

 Take a right, and you’re in the living room.

 A bookshelf in the corner holds some items from the Alaska wilderness: driftwood from the Yukon River, an unidentified green rock found on the beach in Gustavus, and a fossil.

On Labor Day weekend I made this artwork for my dining area. I painted the sky with a paper towel and the birch trees with an old credit card! Click here to learn how to make your own.

 Here’s the kitchen. The art above the sink was made by Pat Minock, a local artist. He invited me to his house last spring to look at his prints. He’s a really nice guy with interesting stories. You can see and buy his art here.

 This is the hallway. To the left: pantry, roommate’s bedroom (not pictured), and my bedroom. To the right: kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. At the end: spare bedroom.

 It’s hard to keep this space organized, especially when you buy groceries in bulk.

 The bathroom is not too interesting, but it’s clean!

 Most of my decorating efforts occur in my bedroom. I got the tapestry to hide some of the wood paneling.

  The curtain hides my closet.

 I have a few mementos on top of my dresser and some pictures hanging above.

 The hottest room in the house: the boiler/washing machine room…

  …and through the door on the far end, the coldest room (which is really an attached shed): the storage/dryer room.

 Finally, the spare bedroom.

I hope you enjoyed touring my humble abode! Feel free to leave questions in the comments.

Scenes from a Bush Plane in the Fall

Labor Day may be the unofficial end of summer, but here in Alaska, fall is in full swing. On Monday I took a Cessna 207 to Mountain Village, the site of the District Office for the Lower Yukon School District, for curriculum training. The pilot, other teachers, and I got a good view of the fall colors.This picture was taken not long after liftoff in Pilot Station. As you can see, we don’t fly too high above the ground. I got to ride co-pilot. Every time this happens, I think about the book Hatchet. And I silently pray that the pilot won’t have a heart attack and force me to land in the Yukon River, leaving me to survive using the emergency equipment in the back of the plane. I have an active imagination 🙂I love tundra. Tundra is spongy and fun to walk on. It also smells amazing. I want to capture tundra in a candle. The village of Pitka’s Point used to have a school in our district. Due to low attendance, the school was shut down and the students now take the bus to Mountain Village.It’s hard to see, but St. Mary’s is behind the hill.Hey, look — a road! It even has a car. It goes from the airport in St. Mary’s (a hub), past Pitka’s, to Mountain.

This 26-mile trip takes about 15 minutes by plane. Within two months, the landscape will change to white, blue, and gray. No matter the season, I love looking out the window at the scenery of the Yukon Delta.

Classroom Tour

We’re two weeks into the school year, and I just found out I’m moving out of my classroom. But since I already snapped pics, I wanted to share them with you.

 This is the view when you first walk in. As you can see, this classroom was designed for home economics.

 This is the white board (obviously). I put up butcher paper to cover things I will use later in the class period. I find this helps students focus on the activity at hand.

 This is a close up of the left hand side of the white board. It has my behavior expectations, a place to praise students who are meeting these expectations, and my lesson objectives.

 
“Bricks” and “mortar” are part of an instructional program for English Language Learners called Constructing Meaning. Basically, bricks are your academic vocabulary words; this bricks bulletin board is similar to a word wall. On the other hand, mortar is the language function (text structure) used to write or talk about your bricks. Mortar makes the bricks stick together — get it?

 Under the bricks board is a table where I keep supplies for the day, including the bell work that students work on the first few minutes of class while I take attendance.

 Here is my desk area. I planned to have students write goals on their handprints to put across the bottom of the bulletin board, but I’ll have to save that idea for another time.

 The desks are in an unusual arrangement to allow mobility around the kitchen. I put down painter’s tape to help students and custodians know where the desks should be. I put my class rules on both freezers since most wall space is covered by cabinets.

  

And here are a few pictures of the back of the room. We have a great view of the village!

I hope you enjoyed my classroom tour. I plan to make shorter, more frequent posts like this for my readers this year.

Moose Chili

When life gives you spaghetti sauce…make chili!

You see, grocery shopping in rural Alaska can be tricky. Freight to this distant location is expensive, so local stores mark up the prices by 200-300%. I bought a bunch of groceries on Amazon and at the Anchorage Wal-Mart ahead of time, but it’s hard to know what/how much you’ll want to eat for a whole semester. (My frozen broccoli was gone in about two weeks!) And I forgot one important item that local stores don’t carry: tomato juice.

With the weather getting colder (10 degrees at the moment), I’ve been craving chili. Too bad…or so I thought. During last week’s trip to the AC, I found pasta sauce that was about to expire; I scored it for half off (about $2 per can)! And since necessity is the mother of invention, I decided to try making chili with what I have.

• I did remember to buy chili beans and chili powder in Anchorage.
• I do (for the moment) have running water.
• Several locals have given me moose meat.

I mixed some water, chili powder, beans, and scrambled moose in with the pasta sauce to simmer. After it cooked for a while, I thought it still looked and smelled like, well, pasta sauce and beans. So I added my new favorite ingredient — green Tabasco — and some quinoa to make a heartier mealI topped it with some shredded cheese ($16 for a 2lb. block) and sour cream ($4.50 for a small container). It turned out pretty well!

It just goes to show…if you find yourself in a situation where you have moose meat but no tomato juice (ha!), you CAN make chili. 😉

Free Meat

Hello, all the way from Pilot Station, Alaska!

I’d like to start by apologizing for the lack of updates. I’ve faced a series of obstacles in connecting to the Internet, and since I’m in a remote location, the only thing to do is be patient. I’ll do my best to catch you up over the next few posts.

Note to Mom: I know how you feel about dead animal pics, so you might not wanna read this 🙂

Soon after our arrival in the village, we learned that Alaska Fish and Game leaves free fish by the dock twice a day. A little before 8:00 one evening, we hiked down to the Yukon River, bucket in tow.

It’s a beautiful river, by the way.

Then we waited for the boat.

Sometimes it brings lots of fish (60 one evening!), and sometimes it shows up empty. So we always make sure the locals get fish before we take any. Alaska Fish and Game will bring fish like this until the end of September.

I named my first salmon Loretta.

Then Eddie, the husband of another new teacher, showed me how to gut and fillet it.

My turn!

I looked like I’d murdered someone by the time I finished.

But I had about 10 servings of salmon.

This past weekend, a student came to my door with a gift: all four legs of a moose!

His grandmother, one of the elders of the community, asked him to share his first moose of the season with the teachers. Jessica and I shared one leg.

It took us about an hour to cut up. After splitting this leg with Jessica, I gave about a third of my half to some teachers who didn’t get a leg. And STILL, I ended up with 9 bags of meat!

Eddie estimates that one leg of a moose is more meat than an entire deer.

I ordered a meat grinder so I can use the meat like hamburger this winter.

Our Assistant Instructional Leader (AKA Assistant Principal) cooked some up right away. Then he, another teacher, and I brought the meal to the home of the student and grandmother who gifted us with moose. This is the customary way of thanking people for sharing with us.

I feel blessed to have so much meat in my freezer for the long winter ahead. Even more so, I feel blessed to live in a sharing community. In such a harsh and remote climate, cooperation is the only way to survive. At new teacher orientation, we were even cautioned not to encourage competition in the classroom because it goes against the values of our students and their families. The sharing nature of these people is just one of many characteristics I’m learning to love about the Yup’ik culture.

Things People Say When You Tell Them You’re Moving to Alaska

If you’re planning a move to Alaska, be prepared — you’re gonna hear this a lot!

What part?

Pilot Station.

What’s that close to?

St. Mary’s, Marshall, Mountain Village…

And what are those towns close to?

Nothing really. LOL!

Why?!

I’m young. I’m single. I want to. Why not?

 

Nope, I’ll live in a furnished trailer, leased by the school district. I’ll even have electricity!

Did you know they have six months of darkness and six months of light?

I’ve heard that, although the description is not entirely accurate.

Have you ever been to Alaska?

Heh. Nope!

What do your parents think about this?

They’re used to me living in another state. They’re excited. I think my dad is already planning my retirement!

How did you hear about your new job?

Through Alaska Teacher Placement, an online job board.

 

Hmmm. I don’t think I’ll be able to change my ethnicity.

It’s so pretty there!

I’ve heard. Can’t wait to see for myself!

You’re crazy!

That’s very possible.

I’m jealous!

Sometimes I’m even jealous of myself!

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That’s all I can think of right now. I’m landing in Anchorage in three weeks!

Guest Posting: Alaska Teacher Connect

Another of my 30 before 30 is complete! Today I’m guest posting at Alaska Teacher Connect about my journey to Alaska. Go check it out!

Many thanks to my new friend Amanda for the opportunity to share!